Published inStarts With A Bang!The Steady-State Universe: a viable alternative to the Big Bang?For nearly 60 years, the hot Big Bang has been accepted as the best story of our cosmic origin. Could the Steady-State theory be possible?1h ago11h ago1
Published inStarts With A Bang!Could dark matter be the same thing as dark energy?Two parts of our Universe that seem to be unavoidable are dark matter and dark energy. Could they really be two aspects of the same thing?1d ago51d ago5
Published inStarts With A Bang!Scalar fields: the secret sauce of theoretical physicsScalars, vectors, and tensors come up all the time in physics. They’re more than mathematical structures. They help describe the Universe.2d ago112d ago11
Published inStarts With A Bang!Ask Ethan: Does the CMB really “prove” the Big Bang?Since the mid-1960s, the CMB has been identified with the Big Bang’s leftover glow. Could any alternative explanations still work?5d ago125d ago12
Published inStarts With A Bang!How to make peace with the weirdness of quantum mechanicsOur classical intuition is no good in a quantum Universe. To make sense of it, we need to learn, and apply, an entirely novel set of rules.6d ago256d ago25
Published inStarts With A Bang!What happens if you deep fry a frozen turkey?It’s the ultimate setup for a Thanksgiving Day disaster. The physics of water and its solid, liquid, and gas phases compels us not to do…Nov 2710Nov 2710
Published inStarts With A Bang!What do JWST’s “red monster” galaxies mean for cosmology?The most massive early galaxies grew up faster, and have more stars, than astronomers expected, according to JWST. What does it all mean?Nov 265Nov 265
Published inStarts With A Bang!5 coincidences that make our existence possibleThere are a few small cosmic details that, if things were just a little different, wouldn’t have allowed our existence to be possible.Nov 2515Nov 2515
Published inStarts With A Bang!Ask Ethan: How do scientists color the Universe?When we see pictures from Hubble or JWST, they show the Universe in a series of brilliant colors. But what do those colors really tell us?Nov 228Nov 228
Published inStarts With A Bang!How a nearby supernova could reveal dark matterThe last naked-eye Milky Way supernova happened way back in 1604. With today’s detectors, the next one could solve the dark matter mystery.Nov 2110Nov 2110